A man just smashed a world record with a jet-powered hoverboard

Franky Zapata, the French jet ski champion who invented the Flyboard Air, has set a new Guinness World Record for the farthest hoverboard flight. Zapata achieved the feat Saturday morning off the coast of Sausset-les-Pins in the south of France, riding his Flyboard Air hoverboard for a distance of more than 2,252 meters (7,388) feet). That far surpasses the previous record of 275.9 meters (905 feet, 2 inches), set last year by Canadian inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru.

Zapata, 37, gained wide attention online earlier this month after videos of himself riding the Flyboard Air went viral. Some doubted whether the footage was real or merely a marketing gimmick. His company, Zapata Racing, has developed a wide range of water-propelled devices, including the original Flyboard, which connects to a personal watercraft turbine with a long hose. The Flyboard Air, by contrast, uses an “Independent Propulsion Unit” to fly hose-free for up to ten minutes, according to Zapata Racing. The company says the device can reach a maximum height of 10,000 feet, with a maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour).

Around 200 people gathered to see Zapata complete the record-setting ride this morning at Sausset-les-Pins, a small seaside city near Marseille. He took off from a platform along the coastline, rising to at least 50 feet